Motorcycles having air cooled engines typically incorporate an oil flow system for lubricating internal engine parts and for additional cooling of the engine. Such systems commonly comprise an oil filled crank case, an exterior oil reservoir, an oil pump, an oil filter manifold and filter assembly, an oil heat radiator, and a network of oil lines or conduits interconnecting the above elements in a closed loop series. Operation of a motorcycle engine which is equipped with such an oil flow system commonly tends to introduce into the oil contaminants and by-products of combustion, and tends to slowly diminish the oil's lubricating capability. Accordingly, the oil in such system must be periodically purged and replaced.
To facilitate purging and changing of oil within an oil flow system such as is described above, such motorcycles typically provide an oil outlet port located at a low point in the system. Such low drainage point is typically located below the motorcycle engine's crank case, and such port is typically valved by a removable helically threaded plug. At the commencement of performance of an oil change upon such exemplary motorcycle, an oil catching basin may be conveniently placed beneath such plug, and such plug may then be removed, allowing a majority of the oil in the system to emit downwardly into the basin without spillage upon other motorcycle surfaces.
An integral aspect of such motorcycle oil purging and changing procedure, as described above, typically includes removal and interchange of the system's oil filter. A motorcycle, such as described above, typically mounts the oil filter manifold and its supported oil filter within a laterally opening frame space which is closely longitudinally bounded by the motorcycle's engine and front frame struts. Such frame space is also typically oppositely laterally bounded by the oil filter manifold itself, and is closely vertically bounded by underlying engine and frame components. Upon threaded removal of such oil filter, residual oil contained within the oil filter and contained within the manifold typically undesirably spills downwardly therefrom onto motorcycle structures which surround and underlie the oil filter and manifold. Such residual spilled oil is difficult to clean within the frame space crowded with structures as described above.
The instant inventive apparatus and method solves or ameliorates the motorcycle oil changing problems discussed above by providing unique structural assemblies and method steps for laterally conducting such residual and otherwise spilled oil out of the frame space for convenient collection and disposal.